On Bullying

Emily Bazelon reports on Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old who hanged herself after months of bullying. Nine classmates have been charged in connection with the suicide. Matt Steinglass reflects on bullying more generally:

I have to confess that I've often taken a skeptical attitude towards the new prominence of anti-bullying campaigns. Kids have always bullied each other, and with little data to suggest the problem is any worse now than it has been in the past, other issues seemed more pressing.
But I'm pretty sure my instinctive hesitancy on this point is wrong, for three reasons. The first is simply that research suggests anti-bullying programs in schools work fairly well.